Broadcaster’s older sister, who had developmental disabilities, was ‘most significant person’ in her life (At left, Jackie with parents Lou and Dena in a photo from the late 1940s)

From the San Francisco Chronicle, an extended interview keyed to the release of Walter’s memoir “Audition.” Walters discloses in the book that her relationship with her older sister Jacqueline was difficult. As a child, she says, she was jealous of the attention her sister received. Here’s the portion of the interview in which Walters discusses Jackie:

“I had wanted originally for [the book] to just be my childhood,” she says, dressed in a beige pantsuit and dove-gray heels. “I was going to call the book ‘Sister,’ because I thought that my childhood was unusual and poignant and because I thought that my sister, who would today be called intellectually impaired and then was called mentally retarded, was the most significant person in my life.”

… Walters is the first to admit her feelings about her sister were not always saintlike. “Because she was isolated, I was isolated,” she says. “I didn’t bring friends home and I didn’t have birthday parties and I didn’t join the Girl Scouts and it was my parents trying to protect her, although they certainly loved me. And I felt love for her but also pity, and there were times when I hated her and felt terribly guilty.

“I think anyone who has any member of their family who is disabled will feel that: You love them, you feel guilty, you feel torn. And she was my responsibility in many ways until she died.”

“Jackie was very smart in many ways,” she continues. “She loved show business. I was sort of an introverted, sullen child. I don’t think that my career ever affected her. I don’t remember her ever being jealous. What she used to do is ask me to get autographed pictures of the people I interviewed. She didn’t know them but she wanted their autographs.

“And when she died (of an aneurism after being diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 1985), I wish I’d kept them, but I didn’t, I just threw out all those pictures, I mean it just broke my heart that she was living vicariously through these photographs of famous people.

And from USA Today: Walters got a $4 million advance for writing the book.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, celebrities, families, intellectual disabilities, siblings, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post